Face Forward and Find Hope
by Kiri Kaitou Clover
Summary: Other than Isabel and Farlan's deaths, what else gives Levi the drive and will to not fall into despair every time a comrade dies? Erwin? Maybe... But in truth, its something else. Sequel to A Tale of the Past and 3rd in the Legends of the Daze fic series.


**Warning: Contains some spoilers for the Kagerou Project as a whole, and major spoilers for the main Route XX on Shintaro's end featured in Lost Time Memory, and Route XX of the manga (Then again most of the time if Shintaro dies its Route XX...). Also, contains spoilers from Attack on Titan: No Regrets; Birth of Levi manga, and the one of the current chapters (Just one.). **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin or the Kagerou Project series. They belong to their respective creators.**

* * *

Weak.

Levi Ackerman never liked feeling weak. It heavily reminded him of his days in the Underground District, before Erwin found him and took him and his friends in, before he was taken under Kenny Ackerman's wing. It also reminded him of a story he once read from a book he stole from one of the stores. Of a cold-hearted genius, who due to his own weakness, lost a loved one, and gave in to despair. A physically weak genius who was never able to help his friends fight since he had not left his home for two years.

Levi, who felt he was similar to the main character of that story in terms of intellect, swore to himself that he would not let himself become weak, if only to be able to protect the few friends he cherished. He would never be able to forgive himself if Isabel or Farlan got hurt due to his decisions.

* * *

Levi failed to protect them.

Isabel And Farlan died. All because he had been too stubborn to listen. And he failed to save them. Failed to protect them both.

It was the one and only time Levi truly lost control. He attacked the Titans in a blind rage, in an attempt to avenge their deaths. He attacked Erwin, his heart blaming him for sending his friends onto the front lines. He blamed himself, for his own arrogance and pride, and his own stupidity for involving them in authority disputes.

Erwin stopped him from going any further. He redirected Levi's rage and anger to the Titans. To blame them and not himself. And Levi realized that he almost walked down the same road as that main character, giving in to despair. Erwin gave him a genuine offer to join the Survey Corps that time, and Levi accepted, if only to live for them and not wallow in his own despair. Levi then channeled his frustrations into cleaning and training, while at the same time, learning to control his own pride. He had to, as his pride was deadly if it got the better of him, to him, and those who worked with him.

He trained till he became Humanity's Strongest Soldier. If only to ensure that no one else died while he was there.

_And at the same time, Levi realized that Hanji was VERY similar to that blue haired companion of the main character in terms of how annoying Hanji was. He was rather glad that he had not given in to despair, as he would definitely have reenacted one of the routes where the blue haired girl was killed by the main character to shut her up if he was still lamenting over his friends' deaths. He definitely would have done so, since Hanji was so annoying!_

* * *

Coming back from an expedition, Levi had not been expecting to see a Titan Shifter at their front door.

Eren Yeagar was a walking contradiction. Kind and protective at one point, and a raging inferno when Titans were mentioned. Much like his ability to shift into a Titan. He was much like that other boy from the story, one that had been forcibly changed against his will and at points of the story, turned into a monster which the protagonist often failed to stop, leading to their deaths time and time again in each loop.

Looking at the similarities, Levi could not help but swear to both himself and Eren. Should Eren go out of control and attack everyone, Levi would not be a weak genius who wasn't able to support himself in a fight, who wasn't able to stop a friend from mindlessly killing them all. He swore that if Eren lost control, he would kill him with his own two hands, actually being capable of that feat.

But for now, that boy represented the hope of humanity, and Levi was glad to be able to train him under the Survey Corps and have him as an ally.

_Levi faced forward for the future. He had found someone capable of being a symbol of hope. It was time for humanity to take a stand against the Titans once more._

* * *

Up in what was assumed to be afterlife or a different world, a black haired boy with a red jersey stared down at Humanity's Strongest Soldier with a small smile and muttered, "Be stronger than I was, heart, body and mind. Be the leader and friend I never could be."

_Boys and girls, face forward!_  
_Find hope in only the dizzying heat!_  
_"Take it in hand!", "Take it in hand!"_  
_The blazing sun rises in red flames._

_Now, come, it's the call._  
_Let's make this the end; the best plan of action has opened your eyes,_  
_From the overstated warfront of daydream_  
_to beyond a mobius strip of emotion._

* * *

**HI ALL! As you've probably guessed, this is the sequel to A Tale of the Past and part three of what I'm naming Legends of the Daze. This time the entire thing is from Levi's end. Timeline for this is Pre-Female Titan. You can easily guess who I'm basing this fic on this round. Not much on the legend this time other than what Levi seems to remember reading about Shintaro, and him recalling similarities between Eren and Haruka/Konoha/Kuroha. Levi attempts to learn from Shintaro's mistakes, fails to do so once, and promises himself to not wallow in despair like Shintaro did for two years. I used the lyrics for Children Record for this since none of the Shintaro centered songs had any lyrics that would suit this particular fic.**

**Once again, this fic idea totally went out of my control. It was originally supposed to be in Mikasa's POV again and I did type out a small portion of that... Only that I never finished it for over what? Three months? That sound about right... Then two days ago, I suddenly felt the urge to have Levi hate himself for being weak and began typing this thing on my iPhone. Some editing on the computer and its complete. **

**Hope you all enjoyed it! And please review as usual!**

**Kiri Kaitou Clover **


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